Stylos is the blog of Jeff Riddle, a Reformed Baptist Pastor in North Garden, Virginia. The title "Stylos" is the Greek word for pillar. In 1 Timothy 3:15 Paul urges his readers to consider "how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar (stylos) and ground of the truth."

Friday, November 23, 2018

The Vision (11.23.18): The purging of the fruitful branch

Image: Red berries, North Garden, Virginia, November 2108

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on John 15:1-7.

John 15:2 Every branch
in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth
fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

Christ declares himself in v. 1 to be the true vine. In v. 2
there follows both a warning and a promise.

The warning: The branch that does not bear fruit
is taken away (v. 2a). It is removed. This relates to the fruitless unbeliever
who is removed from Christ. Later, in v. 6 Christ will speak of the man not
abiding in him as being “cast forth as a branch,” becoming “withered,” and then
being cast into the fire to be burned.

The promise: Next he addresses the fruitful
branch. We might have preferred for Christ to have said that this branch was
simply left alone. Instead, Christ says that the branch that bears fruit is purged
(kathairo: cleansed or pruned), so
that it becomes even more fruitful. This refers to the believer. He is not
removed from Christ, but he goes through a process of cultivation. This refers
to the process of progressive sanctification. It often involves things that are
painful for a season: pruning, taking away, cleansing.

Calvin says this shows that believers need “incessant culture,
that they may be prevented from degenerating; and that they produce nothing
good, unless God continually apply his hand; for it will not be enough to have been
once made partakers of adoption, if God does not continue the work of his grace
in us.”

May the Lord be pleased to continue his work of sanctification
in us that we might bear fruit for him.